


Azure

by OfElvesAndAliens



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Wakanda, emotional scars, post-IW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 13:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14356035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfElvesAndAliens/pseuds/OfElvesAndAliens
Summary: She runs across the battlefield with a fierce (and broken) battle cry, leaving a trail of corpses in her wake. She is a lethal sight to behold, but Thanos merely smiles and looks down at her like she's nothing but a diminutive minion that lost her way, and treats her like one.





	Azure

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set post-IW and I know the film isn't out yet but I have a nagging feeling that it won't spend enough time exploring Nebula as a character, which is understandable considering how big and busy the film's plot seems to be.
> 
> This is also my first ever MCU fic so be kind, although constructive feedback would be much appreciated.

  
Standing on Terran soil and surrounded by Terran warriors that aren't as frail as she was once led to believe, Nebula is relentless. The sun is scorching and so is her rage, deep-rooted and ever growing, making her weapon sing as it mercilessly slays one foe to another. And it is when Nebula finally sees him, strutting smugly with his golden gauntlet of twisted purpose, that her sheer anger blinds her.

She runs across the battlefield with a fierce (and broken) battle cry, leaving a trail of corpses in her wake. She is a lethal sight to behold, but Thanos merely smiles and looks down at her like she's nothing but a diminutive minion that lost her way, and treats her like one. He grabs Nebula by the arm, the one that he implanted on her, and throws her against the ground with a vicious thud. The earth beneath her crumbles with the impact and it is as if Thanos dug up her own shallow grave in one swift move.

He leaves her there, motionless and powerless and squinting up at the blazing sun. She remains collapsed like that as the battle rages on and part of her, the one that she thought she buried down long ago, wants nothing but for death to come fetch her and be done with it. She can only watch as a raging Outrider lunges itself into her and claws savagely in both flesh and metal. Nebula doesn't scream, stubbornly refusing to wail like a slaughtered pig before oblivion swallows her whole.

But again, fate decides to play another one of its cruel jokes on her.

Blue beams hit the creature squarely on its chest and a girl (it must be a girl, a Terran girl) peers down at her. She then looks away and shouts something she can't hear, in fact she can't hear anything other than a brain-shattering ringing in her head.

Another figure arrives, one taller and larger than the girl. A man. He reaches down to Nebula, discarding the dead Outrider that lay dead on top of her before lifting her up with both arms. His dark hair is long, framing his face.

The girl comes to his side and looks at Nebula with worried eyes. It is the last thing she sees before she drowns in darkness.

 

¤¤¤

 

She wakes up feeling like she has spent some time floating in space. An entirely unfamiliar sensation ran through her, soothing and utterly strange.

Her eyes open and she finds herself in a place she doesn't know and surrounded by technological contraptions she has never seen before. She jumps up in a defensive stance instinctively and notices something drastically different with her metal arm. It now looks sleeker, darker and traced with blue tendrils that interlink in her palm where they form indecipherable patterns. Those lines makes it look as if her organic flesh somehow bled into the black metal like blue luminous veins. Nebula stares at it, both enchanted and horrified.

Her head turns sharply towards the door when she hears the slight sound of gentle footfalls against the floor. A girl enters the room and halts under Nebula's glare.

"I mean no harm." she says. (It's the girl, the one who stopped her from falling into the dark void of death that she had been ready to surrender into, the one who shot the Outrider that tried to ravage her useless body.)

Nebula, though still disorientated, nods once and the girl's face blooms into a smile.

"I'm Shuri. You've been out for weeks so I'm gonna have to fill you in with a lot of things, but let's start with the obvious ones." She points at her cybernetic arm. "I had to replace it, you were badly injured."

This girl is clearly as naive as she is young. She tells her she had been _injured_ , as if the word didn't sound misplaced enough. Nebula doesn't tell her that, though. Instead she lifts up her new arm in front of her to inspect it more critically. She moved her fingers around and marveled at how graceful they are. There's something else too, something she has never dared hope for.

"It feels... different." she says, voice hoarse and low. (It feels real.)

"Good."

She eyes the princess sharply at that, not hiding the suspicion in her look. The girl is unfazed.

"I had to examine the arm you once sported. Highly advanced, of course, but crudely made." she rambles on. There's no judgement in her voice, not even pity, just a matter-of-fact tone tinged with a rather youthful enthusiasm. "I designed something more sophisticated and equipped it with heightened sensory and nerve impulses that matches your other arm, to somehow make it feel authentic. Your neural enhancements also gained some malfunctions, which was essentially why you were in some state of coma for a while. I had to rewire the intracortical microstimulation of-"

"Why did you do this." Nebula cuts her off. There is poison in her every word and Shuri's mask of kindness dissolves, but it isn't guilt or fear that takes its place like Nebula expected, only a solemn understanding that looks precocious on her young face.

Her eyebrows twitch before settling into a concerned frown. "I did it to heal you. No one else could in this planet so I had to try. That is my only intention, nothing else."

Thanos didn't break Nebula enough for her not to distinguish sincerity from someone's eyes, and hers are so overwhelmingly earnest that Nebula doesn't know what to do with it. She redirects her gaze on her hand to avoid having to look at this stranger that she's not even sure she can trust.  
(But she wants to, deep inside; if only things were that simple).

 

¤¤¤

 

Earth has won their battle and Thanos has fled to lick his wounds. They've somehow gotten hold of the two stones Thanos had during the battle at the expense of many lives and is now guarded by a powerful sorcerer.

She can only imagine how satisfying it must be to see him fall back from an army of Terrans; the thought makes her smile and eases up the sting of her failure.

(Perhaps she was foolish and Gamora had been right. She could never kill Thanos.)

Wakanda is said to be the peak of Terran civilization and it defies every preconceived expectations she had for the planet. Apparently, Shuri was the nation's Princess. Nebula wasn't aware of all that before; she had no time to acquaint herself with royals after her abrupt landing on the planet and joining in the fray of the fight right away.

The King visited earlier to personally inform her that she is welcome in Wakanda and that Gamora has gone on a mission to seek out the remaining infinity stones along with her brood of fools, the Asgardian god, and some other people she doesn't know.

Their hospitality is suspiciously too generous, but Nebula is admittedly too tired too care for now. Her resolve, however, has yet to dwindle. But Thanos is somewhere mourning his defeat and out of her reach while she is currently stuck on Earth (and a little bit more confused than she is letting on).

Shuri is quiet for the rest of day after she carefully tells Nebula all the information she needed to know, only speaking when she has to and spends most of the time busying herself in front of holographic screens, casually bobbing her head along with the music that blares through the walls. Nebula keeps to herself, head filled with plans on how to redeem herself from her failure. She could steal a ship, but she's not sure if Terrans have ships that could travel off-planet. But she has to think of something.

She can hear Shuri turn to her suddenly and for a few moments she remains that way, staring at her without a word. Nebula refuses to glance back and opts o pretend she's not there.

At length she finally says, "Gamora barely left your side when you were still unconscious."

"And what am I to do with this information?" she replies, looking at the girl this time.

Shuri shrugs. "I just thought you should know."

She brandishes a slip of paper from the pocket of her jacket and steps forward to hand it to Nebula.

"It's a letter from Gamora. She told me to give it to you when you wake up." she says before retreating back to her work, once again allowing Nebula to have her own space.

Nebula regards the paper in her hand, debating whether to read it or not. Curiosity eventually gets the best of her and with steady fingers she unfolds the paper to find her sister's hasty yet graceful handwriting.

_Nebula,_

_I hope that you are alright. King T'Challa is trustworthy and I know that the princess is capable of making you well, but allow me to worry._

_By the time that you are reading this you probably already know where I am headed. The war is not yet won and I've long decided to help end it. I know you so badly want to ruin Thanos and lay waste on his forces but I beg of you, think this through. You could only win if you are willing to join up with others, and right now you are surrounded by people with a common goal._

_Just be wiser, is all I ask. Be safe._

 

_Your sister,_

_Gamora_

 

¤¤¤

 

Nebula chooses to stay in Wakanda, her decisiveness about it surprising even herself. Thanos will surely return to regain what he had lost: the two infinity stones and a large chunk of his pride (and this time she'll be far more prepared to face him).

Unbeknownst to Thanos, those cursed stones were hidden away by the Terran sorcerer somewhere he could never reach, in fact no one could get it back at all, save for the sorcerer himself. What was once a threat of danger is now set up as a trap for Thanos to step into. Nebula is more than eager to be an audience to his eventual fall and, if possible, be the one to rid the universe of his filth.

However, Nebula steered away from the meetings the "Avengers" arranged in the past days.. She didn't stay to form acquaintances, she's just someone with a personal vendetta that happened to be in line with their goals. They're aware of that, including the king, and they paid no mind. As far they are concerned, Nebula is their ally.

Most of her time were spent inside the comfort of her own quarters in solitude to nurse old wounds (wounds that were beyond those that puncture the flesh) and entertain dark thoughts, planning and thinking (and trying not to worry about Gamora) until her mind is stacked and there was nothing left to contemplate.

It's only fitting, then, that Shuri knocks on her door a few days later and greets Nebula with a too-friendly grin.

"I've got something to show you." she says instantly. Nebula maintains a disinterested face.

"What?"

"That's the thing, I have to show it to you. Come on."

She proceeds to leave and Nebula, thinking that she's got nothing to do anyway, follows her.

They reach Shuri's lab and it was busier than the last time she came by for one final check, which consisted mostly of various questions from Shuri about the state of her cybernetic arm and whether it was working comfortably. (She strangely gave a lot of careful attention to Nebula's comfort rather than how efficiently it can serve her in combat. She's never received such treatment, certainly not from the technicians that did what Thanos bade them to do.)

Scientists and technicians shuffle about the place and one even accidentally bumps into her. Nebula glares at him darkly and the young man retreats back with wide eyes before scuttling away like a frightened prey.

Shuri lets out a chuckle. "You scared the new guy. He needed that. Too cocky. It was starting to grate on my nerves."

(Nebula almost smiles. She did miss scaring off arrogant imbeciles.)

Shuri's personal workspace is far less crowded though, save for one person: the man they call White Wolf.

He sits himself comfortably on Shuri's chair, his legs stretched out and his feet rested upon a desk, arm of dark metal glinting under the fluorescent lights of the lab.

They've seen each other in passing but he's a stranger to her, much like everyone else in this place (except that she can remember him clearly, a face framed with long dark hair.)

"Oh great, you're here. You two have met already, right?"

"Not properly." The man rises from his chair and eagerly offers up his hand for Nebula to shake. She ignores it, of course. "The name's James Buchanan Barnes."

Shuri snorts at that. Nebula lazily nods, indifferent but not annoyed.

"Nebula."

Shuri walks over to a metallic shelf filled with objects of different shapes and sizes all neatly displayed. She grabs the most unimpressive one, a short metal rod, and chucks it across the room. Nebula catches it easily and upon closer inspection, it looks far from simple. The metal is painted black and easy to grip, lined with blue threads that meet near the top to form a small glowing circle that looks like a button. Her finger lingers at it and Shuri nearly jumps.

"Wait! Face the tip away from you before pressing."

Nebula arches her brow but does what the girl said anyway. She firmly presses her thumb at the glowing button and a slightly curved blade emerges from its tip in a blink of an eye. Nebula notices James' alarmed and awed expression from the corner of her eyes.

The blade is her arm's length, thin as ice and its edges outlined with what was surely blue plasma.

It is the most graceful weapon nebula has ever seen or held.

"It's a weapon of my own design." Shuri says proudly. "It's yours. Well, only if you want it."

Nebula flashes her a brief incredulous stare (because of course she wants it) before returning her attention to the blade. She tests its weight, light as feather, and gives it a slash (and oh how it whistles gloriously against the air).

"Where do you get these ideas, Princess?" she says without taking her eyes off the weapon.

"Two things: my brain and pop culture."

James chuckles lightly.

"It looks lethal, but incredibly elegant."

"Given that our enemies don't look pleasing in the eyes, I figured we should amp up our style to make up for it."

"It matches your arm, too." says James and Shuri falls into a suspiciously fake coughing fit and flashes him a wink, not even bothering to be discreet.

Nebula looks up to see the James offering her a small smile. She wants to sneer at him but settles with a simple frown before looking away.

"It's all vibranium, indestructible and sharper than my wit." explains Shuri with youthful aplomb.

Nebula's mouth quirks up ever so slightly, but she's certain Shuri sees it. (She might've wanted her to.)

 

¤¤¤

 

Nebula has been training regularly by herself to appease her restlessness. She's found a perfect spot on a grass clearing not far from the Vibranium mines.

She is now quicker, more agile, and she can feel the way her instincts are smoothened and improved. Her weapon, dubbed by the princess as _Azure_ , feels almost like an extention of herself.

Nebula spins and strikes her blade at a dizzying pace, slaying imaginary enemies in a quick succession of slashes. She hears someone clap their hands and she pauses. Surely enough, she sees Shuri approach, beaming so wide Nebula thinks it might tear her face.

"That was insanely awesome!" Shuri exclaims. Nebula eyes the strike gauntlets she wears in her hands.

"That's not what I meant when I told you to bring a weapon."

"Relax, they're in stun mode. Besides, I've got something fun in mind." She smirks at Nebula. "I designed Azure to deflect energy blasts and I'm pretty sure it works. Wanna test it anyway?"

Nebula responds by raising her blade.

"I take that as a yes." Shuri shoots a single beam at her direction and Nebula easily blocks it, the beam colliding against plasma and sending bright blue sparks as it ricochets and hits the ground far away from her.

Shuri whoops and Nebula shakes her head (while trying to quash down an amused smirk from showing).

"Impressive, but I was going easy on you."

Nebula hears a muffled laugh. She turns to the source of the sound and sees James sitting cross-legged on the ground a fair distance away from them. _Of course_. He rarely leaves Princess Shuri's side. Shuri told her that he's her personal guard when Nebula couldn't help but ask.

"Brother appointed him for the task and I just roll with it. He's stressed out enough as it is, my brother." she explained to her, then shrugged. "Besides, Buck's good company. He's like a firm but fun grandpa with well-shampooed hair."

"Why would you ever think of him as a grandfather?" Nebula then asked.

Shuri waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, he's an old soul. But really, he's literally old."

Shaking off her thoughts, Nebula steps back and positions herself in a fighting stance. "Let's go again."

 

¤¤¤

 

_Gamora,_

  
_You lecture me in your letter but you're the one who is diving right into your possible doom and making yourself vulnerable. I can only hope that this message finds you while you are still alive, sister. You are too noble for your own good._

 _I am staying on earth and will be waiting for Thanos to come prancing into his own demise, but don't think for a second that I'm following your advice by doing this. I've only decided to remain here for it is to my advantage. It's my own decision._  
_Don't be gone too long sister; I believe that you want to see Thanos burn as much as I do._

_\- Nebula_

 

¤¤¤

 

Many weeks have already passed but the realness of her senses and the way her arm of metal can feel as if it is truly her own has yet to truly sink in. She had been wired for certain things, specific things that Thanos inflicted upon her so she could be deemed useful enough to him, but to feel the subtle sensations that bring back vague fragments of deeply buried memories from when she was still _whole_ is not one of those things.

Nebula finds herself lost in the void between delight and displeasure, but she leans towards the former much more often. Like now, for instance. She can feel the cool evening air soothe her, a cup of something warm in her hands. Nebula's not sure why she let Shuri enter her quarters with Barnes on her tail, but the drink she brought with her was quite good so she chalks it up to that.

Her room comes with a small balcony with two sleekly ornate wooden chairs; Shuri and Nebula occupy both with James standing in the corner. They remain silent for a long while. That's probably why Nebula can tolerate their presence, even the usually outspoken princess knew when to keep her mouth closed.

She reaches her tipping point eventually and finally speaks up. "Why did you say no?" Her tone wasn't accusatory or in any way upset, just simply curious. James turns to Nebula, as intrigued about her reply as Shuri is.

She was referring to her brother's offer to Nebula: a place in the Avengers' inner council of tacticians that will also lead the charge against Thanos. They know of her history and thought her insight and skill would be valuable, but Nebula refused.

"I'm not going to play hero when I'm really not. I'm only here to kill Thanos. Simple as that." she tells Shuri truthfully. "I won't venture on something that will distract me from my purpose."

Shuri nods, similar to the Dora Milaje's courteous tilt of their heads: a small gesture of respect. For the Dora, it is a respect forged in the battlefield. She doesn't know what made Shuri form even a sliver of respect for her, but it's there.

James is still looking at her, his expression unreadable.

"What?" she asks him with more spite than she intended.

The look drops from his face. "Nothing."

"Why are you two even here, anyway?" she blurts out, suddenly perturbed.

There's an awkward pause as Shuri and Barnes exchanges knowing looks, which doesn't help with her rising temper either.

"'Cause we want to hang out with you?" Shuri says.

She did not expect such a pathetically juvenile reply, but there was no lie in the girl's tone.

"... _What?_ "

"Look, Nebula, I think you're cool. Hell, you're pretty awesome. I know you have some issues but that doesn't really change anything. And I thought you might need a friend-"

"I do not need a friend." Nebula basically spits out the last word.

"Sure, but you put up with us anyway so I thought you didn't mind."

 _That is the question, isn't it?_ Why does she even put up with them?

She gets her answer when they lapse into a comfortable silence, again, as if both Shuri and James understood that she doesn't want to talk about the matter any more. If anything, she realizes, they are the ones that put up with her. And she can't stop them from doing so. (She also finds that she doesn't want to, really.)

Minutes pass by and Nebula is shaken from her quiet brooding by a light snore. Shuri is now slumped senselessly on her chair, fast asleep and mouth slightly agape.

"James," she says, her voice urgent yet barely above a whisper

"Hmm?"

"Shuri's fallen asleep."

He glances down at the princess with a fond smile, not at all bothered. (Shuri was right, there is a whisper of elderly fondness in that face of his.)

Nebula is far from amused. "You're not going to do anything about it?"

"What, do you want me to wake her?"

"Yes."

"Why would I?"

"She rolls her eyes. "So she could walk to her room," (you dolt.)

"She'll wake up after a while. Just give it fifteen minutes or so and I'll carry her if she's still sleeping after that."

Nebula, left with not other option other than shaking the princess awake herself, acquiesces. She stares back into the horizon and attempts to fall back into her brooding, but James seems to be determined to vex her.

"I never got to tell you." he starts, his tone feigning casualness but his face betrays him, or so it seems to Nebula. "But you can call me Bucky, you know."

Nebula gives him a look. "Why would I do that? That name sounds ridiculous."

"No one really calls me James."

"Well, get used to it because I'm not using the alternative."

He breathes out a short laugh. His metal arm looks almost invisible under the scant light of the evening but she can hear the sharply distinct sound it makes while he shifts to lean against the railings.

Before Nebula can think against it she asks, "Your arm, was that on purpose?"

"No."

Nebula nods without pushing the question any further.

"I fell out of a train, nasty fall, lost my arm. I was a soldier, I was ready to lay down my life for something I believed in." he says after a while, angling his face away. "Steve and everyone else thought I was dead, too. It turned out a bunch of nihilistic bastards picked me up, brainwashed me, made me stronger, replaced the arm that I lost... They wanted a mindless killing machine and they made me one. Perhaps death would've been kinder." He chuckles bitterly. "And that's my miserable life in a few sentences, at least just a part of it. It's all so complicated."

"Everything is."

His face breaks out into another one of his smiles, though the sight is far less irritating than she would expect. "Not really. Some things are simple, like with this princess over here." He briefly cocks his head towards Shuri. "She just wants to help everyone, no complications whatsoever. No hidden agenda."

Nebula can't find it in her to disagree.

Silence fills up the space between them once more, save for the sighs of the wind around them and Shuri's snores. It seems to her, however, that the ease of which James' almost melted into the quiet of the night says much about his desire for it. For all his gentle smiles and light demeanor, there is a cloud of darkness that looms above him. She has noticed this before, of course, but it's only clear to her now after hearing part of his past. And perhaps she's given it more than just a passing thought this time.

The sound of a vaguely familiar song not unlike the ones that play nonstop inside Shuri's lab pierces through the noiseless air, making Shuri stir and eventually open her wide eyes soberly. The sound is coming from her phone.

She curses under her breath while rubbing her eyes. "Parker keeps forgetting about different time zones."

James only snorts. "You better tell the spider kid I said thanks. He saved me from having to carry you to your room while you snore all the way."

"I don't snore." she says before picking up her phone. "Parker, this better be worth it."

While the princess is busy rambling through her device and James looks ahead in silence again, Nebula hides a rare smile by taking a sip from her now-cold drink. Her mind will surely keep on uprooting reasons to cast away her two unlikely companions and isolate herself even more or maybe her damaged soul will do that for her, but for now she lets that all go.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just believe that MCU Nebula deserves to find genuine people that do care for her well-being outside of Gamora. I tried to be true to her character on how she would react to forming bonds of friendship while dealing with her painful past and burning rage.


End file.
